"Could it be that people are losing their fingerprints because we're constantly on our fingers, either typing now or on devices?" Carlson asked, to which the answer was "It's possible." She added that when the TSA told her they couldn't read her fingerprints, she said, "I can become a burglar now, at which my daughter then cried."

Your fingerprints will grow pack. People have farking dipped their fingers into acid to remove their fingerprints and their fingerprints came back after a while. A criminal once cut his fingerprint pads from his fingers, cut them up into pieces, and attached them back on in a random way. Guess what? The police, after a bit of work, digitally cut the fingerprints into squares and reassembled them in the right way. And they matched them.So no, you won't lose your fingerprints permanently. And no, you wouldn't be a very good burglar since the smarter ones wear gloves, so they don't leave behind fingerprints.

eyeq360:So no, you won't lose your fingerprints permanently. And no, you wouldn't be a very good burglar since the smarter ones wear gloves, so they don't leave behind fingerprints.

Nope. Fingerprints can often be reconstituted even if the surface has been touched through a typical glove. The reason this is true is because fingers sweat and when the finger is pressed into the glove an image of the print is then transferred from the inner lining of the glove to the outer surface. Only gloves that prevent this transference such as rubber or plastic do the trick. For obvious reason, however, gloves made out of these materials present other downsides. This is why pros often prefer false skin. But that too has issues. Its a tricky problem.

worlddan:Nope. Fingerprints can often be reconstituted even if the surface has been touched through a typical glove. The reason this is true is because fingers sweat and when the finger is pressed into the glove an image of the print is then transferred from the inner lining of the glove to the outer surface.

impaler:worlddan: Nope. Fingerprints can often be reconstituted even if the surface has been touched through a typical glove. The reason this is true is because fingers sweat and when the finger is pressed into the glove an image of the print is then transferred from the inner lining of the glove to the outer surface.

I think he's talking about the real world, not the CSI TV show.

I wouldn't have a clue seeing as i do not own a TV. All I know is the actual forensics, not how they are presented on TV

worlddan:eyeq360: So no, you won't lose your fingerprints permanently. And no, you wouldn't be a very good burglar since the smarter ones wear gloves, so they don't leave behind fingerprints.

Nope. Fingerprints can often be reconstituted even if the surface has been touched through a typical glove. The reason this is true is because fingers sweat and when the finger is pressed into the glove an image of the print is then transferred from the inner lining of the glove to the outer surface. Only gloves that prevent this transference such as rubber or plastic do the trick. For obvious reason, however, gloves made out of these materials present other downsides. This is why pros often prefer false skin. But that too has issues. Its a tricky problem.

Ah, thank you for the correction. The thin latex gloves do allow for fingerprints to get through the surface of the glove.I just got peeved since she thinks that since her fingerprints "disappeared," they're never going to come back and that makes her a candidate for being a super-criminal, and ignoring the fact that her fingerprints are going to come back sooner or later AND that she still will be leaving physical evidence behind like skin cells, hair, sweat, oil, etc. behind, which contains DNA, and therefore, can be used to identify her.Her statement was probably meant to be a joke...but still...

OK, I actually asked this on a tour of what I remember being the FBI headquarters in DC. (I was a little kid... my memory may have some details wonky)

I had recently seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica -- the original, with Lorne Greene -- and they had reached Earth. Part of the plot had them in a police station and fingerprinted. But they had no fingerprints ... what with them being not human and all. (Apparently alien morphology is identical to human except for fingerprints) The officer said they must have filed their fingerprints off.

I asked the guy giving the tour about that. The answer was, you'd only be gaining scratches that would also be unique identifiers.

She added that when the TSA told her they couldn't read her fingerprints, she said, "I can become a burglar now, at which my daughter then cried." because even she knew that Mommy was really really dumb.

And in response to the question "Where did my fingerprints go?" she later paused and said, "Oh that's right, I sent them out to look for my brain, one in each of the ten cardinal directions. It's weird that they haven't come back yet, right?"

worlddan:eyeq360: So no, you won't lose your fingerprints permanently. And no, you wouldn't be a very good burglar since the smarter ones wear gloves, so they don't leave behind fingerprints.

Nope. Fingerprints can often be reconstituted even if the surface has been touched through a typical glove. The reason this is true is because fingers sweat and when the finger is pressed into the glove an image of the print is then transferred from the inner lining of the glove to the outer surface. Only gloves that prevent this transference such as rubber or plastic do the trick. For obvious reason, however, gloves made out of these materials present other downsides. This is why pros often prefer false skin. But that too has issues. Its a tricky problem.